Since making her initial “crumbs” remark, Republicans have hit back, saying it highlights just how much out of touch some politicians are with the rest of America. The Republican National Committee recently sent crumb cakes to Democratic candidates for Valentine's Day.

Rep. Todd Rokita (R-Ind.) has come up with a bill named the “Creating Relief and Useful Middle-Class Benefits and Savings,” or the “CRUMBS” Act, which would make the bonuses people have received because of tax reform, up to $2,500, tax-free.

“Americans are receiving thousands of dollars in bonuses and more money in their paychecks thanks to President Trump's tax reform, but out-of-touch Democratic leaders believe they only amount to crumbs,” Rokita said in a statement.

Wednesday, February 14, 2018

If the question is do other countries; both friends and foes alike, try to influence elections in the US, the answer is a resounding YES!

And it's been a common practice since the first politician walked on this planet.

So, why all the hoopla now?

The answer is simple; the Establishment wants to scare us. Why? Because they are losing control of the electorate and they are desperately looking for ways to get voters back into buying the line that voting for anyone other than their "appointed" cronies is a vote for the enemy; Russia, China, North Korea, you name it. Today's boogeyman is Russia and the key word is "meddling."

The game plan remains the same; de-legitimize Trump, the anti-establishment outsider, who was able to wake up Main Street Americans and gave them the opportunity to take control away from the coastal elites who have ruled like Plutocrats for decades.

So far Trump and Main Street aren't buying it.

George W. Bush believes it, the entire U.S. intelligence community believes it, and even members of Trump’s Cabinet believe it—but, according to reports, Donald Trump is still skeptical that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election. Citing three sources who are familiar with Trump’s thoughts on the matter, CNN reported Wednesday that the president is still reluctant to accept that Russia influenced the election. According to CNN’s sources, Trump believes that accepting that the Kremlin interfered would mean admitting that he had help to win the election. The report came hours after U.S. intelligence chiefs unanimously testified about Russian involvement in 2016. Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said: “There should be no doubt that Russia perceives its past efforts as successful and views the 2018 U.S. midterm elections as a potential target for Russian influence operations.”

Saturday, February 10, 2018

All this talk about collusion and obstruction in the Trump camp seems to have been misplaced since it appears that most of it was being committed by his opponents.

After months of negotiations, American spies handed over $100,000 in cash in a brief case to the Russian during a meeting in Berlin in September.

The operative also offered documents and emails that purported to implicate other Trump associates, including former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. But The Times viewed the documents and reported that they were mostly information that is already in the public domain.

The Russian, who has ties to organized criminals and money launderers, showed the video purported to be Trump to a Berlin-based American businessman who served as his intermediary to the CIA. But according to the Times, the footage and the location of the viewing raised questions about its authenticity.

The 15-second clip showed two women speaking with a man. It is not clear if the man was Trump, and there was no audio. The Russian also showed the video to his American partner at the Russian embassy in Berlin, a sign that the operative had ties to Russian intelligence.

The Russian stonewalled the production of the cyber tools, and U.S. officials eventually cut ties, according to The Times. After the payout in Berlin, the man provided information about Trump and his associates of questionable veracity.

The Americans gave him an ultimatum earlier in 2018 to either play ball, leave Western Europe, or face criminal charges. He left, according to The Times, which interviewed U.S. officials, the American intermediary and the Russian for its article.

These 2 clowns wrote an article for this internet rag using exaggerated headlines that imply that a "crime" was actually committed when in reality all they have are tid bits of other fake news from unreliable sources.

In Watergate, it was the cover-up, not the crime. But in Russiagate, that stands to be turned on its head. We already know a lot—and we can be sure Mueller knows more.

Recall the Watergate cliché that the cover-up is worse than the crime. That may have been true then. While it was never established that President Nixon knew in advance about the break-in at the Watergate complex, he was forced to resign after proof emerged that he used the CIA to obstruct the FBI investigation.

In the Russia scandal, special counsel Robert Mueller has credible proof of obstruction of justice—i.e., the cover-up. But in a highly politicized climate, where “memos” and insults are weapons of distraction, that won’t likely be enough. Even if Democrats take control of Congress in November, most Republicans—like most juries in run-of-the-mill criminal cases—will demand significant evidence of an underlying crime as a motive for the obstruction before turning on President Trump, much less voting in the Senate to remove him from office.

While Mueller and his team don’t leak, signs that such evidence exists are clear from news reports, which contain only a tiny portion of what the special counsel’s office possesses. The fragmentary and often disconnected nature of those reports obscures the reasonable supposition that Mueller is well on his way to detailing conspiracy, wire fraud, illegal foreign campaign contributions, or all three.

During Watergate, the special prosecutor had most of the evidence that doomed Nixon at least nine months before his August 9, 1974 resignation. Mueller, too, likely has the goods already, even without “smoking gun” tapes.

Thursday, February 8, 2018

Politico reported Thursday that two men said Garcia made improper advances toward them. One, a former legislative staffer, said Garcia groped his back and buttocks and attempted to grab his crotch during a legislative softball game in 2014.

The former staffer, Daniel Fierro, told his former boss, Assemblyman Ian Calderon (D-Montebello) about the incident several weeks ago, his office said. Calderon then reported the incident to the Assembly Rules Committee.READ MORE